Long long ago, in the age before television, Lotus Blossom was miserable being married to the oldest of three demon brothers. The demons didn’t seem to realize that Lotus Blossom knew what they really were. They kept their human forms around her but treated her worse then a slave. She was forced to cook, clean, and mend for all three of the brothers. She was forced to obey every command of all of them no matter what. She was too scared to run away because she knew the demons could easily hunt her down. She was most terrified about the room behind the house. When she first arrived the demons told her she must never open the door to the room behind the house. The brothers themselves often went in there and Lotus Blossom shuddered to think of what they did in there.
One day the demon brothers told her “We are going to leave on a journey and will not return for several days. Stay home, keep the house clean, and stay out of the back room.”
They then mounted their black steeds and rode away.
Lotus Blossom spent the day doing her chores and keeping the house in order, afraid that the demons had lied and would be back soon. By the next day she began to feel certain that the demons really would be gone for a few days. Knowing her mother was right, but hoping she was wrong, Lotus Blossom opened the door to the room behind the house to find out for certain if the brothers were truly demons. The sight she saw confirmed her worse fears. The room was full of human bones, with tooth marks visible on them. Torn and bloody bits of clothing were strewn all over the place. Lotus Blossom had known this was what would be in the room, it was what demons did, but still it was a shock. Lotus Blossom became resigned to her fate when she saw something. She saw a piece of cloth with a familiar design on it. Picking it up she recognized it has her own mothers shawl. Lotus Blossom fell to her knees and began crying into the shawl.
“Do not cry my daughter” her mothers voice came from the shawl. “Yes, the demons came back and killed me. However I expected this and have prepared for your escape. Put on the shawl”.
Lotus Blossom put on the shawl and immediately became an old wrinkled woman.
“Good, now mount the white stallion I gave you. It too is enchanted to protect you.”
Lotus Blossom took out the stallion and got on it. Immediately the horse ran away as quickly as the wind. It took her far away to a distant land that Lotus Blossom knew nothing about. She made her way to a town and found work carrying water and gathering wood.
Lotus Blossom never took off her mothers shawl in sight of people, fearing that if she did the demons would find her, so everyone in town simply thought she was just an old woman. A month or two after arriving in town she saw the demon brothers ride through searching for her however they didn’t recognize in her appearance as an old woman. Although relieved that the demons couldn’t see through her mothers magic, it made her more certain that she should never be seen without the shawl on.
Each day at dawn, Lotus Blossom would go down to a small stream for water; there she would brush her hair. She had to take off her shawl in order to brush her hair and it was the only time she ever took off the shawl. She listened closely to any noises and if she heard anything would quickly put the shawl back on.
One morning while she was brushing her hair, a shepherd came up for water. Lotus Blossom wasn’t paying close attention and didn’t hear him. The shepherd then saw her as she really was. Shocked by seeing such a beautiful woman he didn’t know he rushed to the palace to tell the lord of that land.
“O great and noble lord,” the shepherd said, “I saw a young maiden just now on the banks of the stream. Her beauty is beyond comparable; she is the most wondrous creature alive.”
Curious, the lord hurried with the shepherd to the river bank however Lotus Blossom had heard the lord approached and put on the shawl so he only saw a wrinkled old woman.
“Honored matron,” the lord said respectfully “Have you seen a young woman here this morning?”
“I have been here all morning and have seen no one else” she replied.
Thinking that the shepherd had been playing a joke on him, the lord had the shepherd lashed.
“But I saw her with my own eyes,” the shepherd said to himself “I know there was a young woman there.”
Determined to redeem himself to his lord, he went back down to the stream. However Lotus Blossom was more careful and each time the shepherd came up she heard him and would put on the shawl.
“That old woman knows more then she is saying” he said to himself, “She is there every morning in the same spot the young woman was.”
One morning he went very early before Lotus Blossom arrived and hid in the bushes. He stayed quiet as he saw the old woman come down to the banks of the stream. He was then shocked as he saw her take off the shawl and transform into the beautiful young woman he saw before.
“So that is the secret, the shawl is magic” he thought to himself.
Wanting to prove he wasn’t a liar he rushed up, grabbed the shawl, and threw it in the stream where it washed away. He then dragged the terrified girl before the lord. Realizing that the shepherd had been innocent, the lord apologized and rewarded him. He then heard Lotus Blossoms story and her struggles with the demons. He promised Lotus Blossom he would protect her from the demons with his armies and she would no longer need to hide who she really was. It wasn’t long afterwards that they were married. Although she was married to a wonderful man who cared for her deeply, and there were guards to protect her, she still worried about the demons who would now know where she was. Her fears were justified.
Continued in Return of the Demons